UConn women pull away from A&M

Updated 12:07 am, Tuesday, April 1, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. - Music City is the next stop for a Connecticut women's team that just keeps humming along in search of a record ninth national championship.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis continued her splendid run through the NCAA Tournament with 17 points, and UConn advanced to the women's Final Four for the seventh straight year with a 69-54 victory over Texas A&M on Monday night.

The defending national champion Huskies (38-0) won their 44th straight game. Their semifinal opponent Sunday in Nashville, Tenn., will be either Stanford or North Carolina.

The Aggies had shot 60 percent in their 84-65 win over DePaul on Saturday, their best mark in an NCAA Tournament game. They hit 28.9 percent in the first half while falling behind 34-23 at halftime and finished at 35.3 percent for the game.

The Aggies had won their first three games in the Tournament by 15 points or more, but they ran into a UConn club that was just too powerful, whether in transition or in the paint.

A&M made its first six shots of the second half to cut into UConn's 11-point halftime lead. Jones hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored on a drive to pull A&M within 40-37.

But the Huskies cranked up their transition game, went on a 10-0 spurt as the Aggies missed eight consecutive shots and outscored A&M 27-12 to build their lead to 18 points in the final three minutes. No team has played UConn closer than 11 points this season.

Stefanie Dolson, who made her 150th career start to tie the NCAA record, had 14 points and 10 rebounds and blocked a career-high eight shots for UConn. Bria Hartley had 14 points, Breanna Stewart added 13 and Moriah Jefferson 11.

Mosqueda-Lewis, an All-American last year who missed 12 games this season because of injury or illness, turned in another great performance and was named the regional's most outstanding player.

She had a triple-double against Saint Joseph's in the second round and 19 points and 13 rebounds against BYU on Saturday. Against the Aggies, she provided the spark after the Huskies found themselves in an early hole.

Her play made up for the slow start of Stewart, who got into early foul trouble and scored just two of her 13 points in the first half.

The Aggies broke out to an 11-4 lead - matching the biggest deficit UConn has faced this season - before Mosqueda-Lewis made her presence known.

Mosqueda-Lewis fed Dolson for an easy basket to start a 26-6 UConn run. Hartley scored twice off Jefferson's long passes, Mosqueda-Lewis hit a couple of 3s and showed what she could do inside when she took an inbound pass and drove the baseline for a lefthanded layup.

A&M seniors Karla Gilbert and Kristen Grant leave with a 12-3 record in the NCAA Tournament, which includes three trips to the Sweet 16, two trips to the Elite Eight and the 2011 national title.